This recipe is very good as-is but even better, it's a super starting point for variations to suit what you have on hand and your personal preferences. One important tip is to use a non-stick, LARGE frying pan. I had absolutely no trouble with the hash sticking, though turning the massive quantity of veg made me wish I'd used my wok. I do agree that the prep time for this dish is way over 15 minutes, but the result is well worth it. The only reason I didn't rate this 5 stars is that it did, as a few other cooks have commented, need a little something extra to "oomf" the flavor. I added about 1 teaspoon of Worchestershire sauce, a dash of cayenne and a touch of balsamic vinegar and that did the trick. The balsamico worked very well with the squash and sweet potato that I added. Other changes I made at one time or another were to use less plain potato and substitute sweet potato, add more kale (i like the stuff and it's so healthy) and added some bok choy that needed to be used. You get the idea, almost anything can go into this as long as you consider the cooking times. I'm going to try adding a cooked, crumbled hot Italian sausage next time just to see what that tastes like. One sausage in all that veg shouldn't add a lot of calories or fat. I took the "4 sprigs of sage" to mean 4 small tips of the branches, not just 4 leaves. That worked out well though if you wait too long to add it and it doesn't have time to lightly cook, the flavor is way too powerful. Fresh sage sho

Reviewed On: Feb. 8, 2009

An excellent recipe as written. The flavors of the apple sauce, sugar and soy meld really well as it cooks and no 1 flavor stands out too much. I consider the original recipe a fairly "safe" dish that almost everyone, kids included, would probably like. I also made this using the Cranberry Chutney I recipe from this site in place of the apple sauce and I loved that even more. That recipe has cranberries, apple chunks and lots of "pie spices". The spices and cranberries kicked up the flavor and complemented both the pork and the veggies. I found adding the brown sugar unnecessary. Of course I added way more onions and squash each time and the leftovers were super for lunch the next day. So good, in fact, that I didn't even need the pork to go along with it and just added some leftover boiled potato to make my meal. All the juices had cooked into the veg and it was awesome.

Reviewed On: Jan. 31, 2009

An excellent recipe as is and that's also very adaptable. At various times I've added chopped winter squash, extra veggies (whatever was on hand), and used this as the filling for a tortilla wrap or a hollowed-out zucchini or acorn squash. Always terrific. I do usually add more cayenne or a chopped fresh chili pepper, because we like things a bit of the hot side. Frying a crumbled hot Italian sausage and adding it to the mix is a good addition for the carnivores in the family.

Reviewed On: Dec. 27, 2008